31 Ocak 2015 Cumartesi

The Earth’s magnetic field continuously shifts with the passage of time. It is estimated that in a time frame of 200,000 to 300,000 years, it fully turns over between north and south. Therefore, the time for this shift is due. Scientists believe that this could happen within next 100 years, and it can change our lives in unforeseen ways.

Latest research

National Science Foundation funded a research project on this topic in 2004. According to which this reversal of Earth’s magnetic field takes almost 7,000 years to complete. However, some other scientists have differed on this during the last few years. They suggest that these shifts take place much quickly that it was believed. A team of scientists from U.S. and Europe have explained the faster changes in their study that got published in the Geophysical Journal International. The research suggests that 180-degree change in Earth’s magnetic field takes only 100 years to complete.

Evidence

The question arises here how these scientists found out the changes occurring in the magnetic field for such a long time. They tested the layers of volcanic eruptions that were deposited in a lakebed near Rome for over a time period of 10,000 years. Berkeley released a report which stated that the direction of magnetic field is frozen into the ash layers. This is a very reliable source to find out the details of the reversals especially their time to complete. One of the study author’s, Paul Renne, said that they don’t know whether the next reversal will take place as quickly as this one, but they also don’t know that it won’t take place.

The maps show how North Pole wondered around Antarctica about 789,000 years ago for many years before it flipped 786,000 years ago to the current orientation having the pole somewhere in Artic.

Changes occurring

Scientists are familiar with the fact that Earth’s magnetic field is changing. For example; we know that during last 200 years, North Pole has moved 600 miles. This summer three ESA satellites observed that Earth’s magnetic field is strengthening in some areas, and it is weakening in some areas. People also know that these changes are unignorably affecting our lives. One example is of the airports; they are compelled to rename and repaint their runways after compass direction due to this shift.

Problems

It is not shocking to know the flip is inevitable, and the complete reversal can happen earlier than expected. The study suggests how this reversal will practically affect the life on Earth. An example is of the weakened field which will cause humans to be more affected by the cancer causing rays; as a result, increase in cancer rate will take place. The effect of shifted field on the infrastructure will be tremendous as well. It will cause problems in sensitive systems and electricity grids.

The average life of a human being is too small to practically understand these changes. It is amazing to know the fact that many of us will not experience the magnitude of this shift; however, it is possible for some other human beings to witness it.

Apple posted the earning from iPhonesfrom October to December 2014. The company has a record-breaking 74.5 million earning in its fiscal Q1 2015. Moreover, the company also mentions that the fans may be waiting for the Apple Watch in stores soon.

Tim Cook mentioned that Apple Watch will not be available before April. Apple can only start shipping in April due to some problems. However, Apple announced the Watch will be available “early 2015” before. Tim Cook has reported that we have to fix something before launching Apple Watch to embrace consumers.

Apple Watch will come with different editions and the cheapest watch will be cost $349 only. In addition, the Apple Watch Edition will come with 18K-carat gold that may cost you thousands of dollars.

Apple Watch will have a Retina-class display and powered by the most powerful processor for smartwatch. However, the battery performance is yet a problem for Apple to cope with. However, Tim Cook said long ago, users may need to charge daily. But, the recent battery performance test result is saying something else!

Tesla had announced its autopilot during the unveiling of its dual-motor all-wheel drive sedan Model S. “We’ve been able to accelerate autopilot and bring it to market faster than originally anticipated,” said Elon Musk to a gathering at its facility in Southern California. “It’s actually in production. In fact, every car coming off the line at Tesla at the factory has the autopilot hardware.“

The autopilot that is installed in the new Tesla cars is a “bundle of hardware and software” that allows the car to take control when running on highways, park by itself in the garage and even intervene when it senses that you are on a collision course. This is an advanced autonomous driving system but if you think the autopilot will drive the car around while you sleep comfortably at the wheel or when there is no driver at all, think again.

All the new Model S vehicles that roll off the assembly line will have a sensor package containing radar, ultrasonic sensors and forward-facing cameras which are new to Tesla, but other automakers have already been offering them. For instance, the Lexus HS250h of 2010 could drive by itself on highways by controlling the steering, acceleration and brake, through dynamic cruise control and lane-keep assist systems.

This was achieved by using a combination of cameras and radar just like the Tesla, but Tesla’s is more sophisticated as the technology has advanced considerably since then. Steer Assist present in Mercedes 2014 S Class is somewhat similar. Some BMWs are capable of reading speed limit signs like the Tesla Model S. Audi has demonstrated car parking by itself and picking you up unattended. However, full autonomy in cars will still take a few years. Tesla is also promising to make its system more advanced over a period of time.

Google has logged thousands of miles for its driverless car but it still hasn’t solved the problem of heavy rain and snow although it has a wider range of sensors than what Tesla is using. Making a car that can transport you safely by itself is a pretty challenging task but hopefully in the next few years, there will have been much more progress on this front.

Raytheon, a company which manufactures weapons and military as well as commercial electronics, is currently testing on its latest missile product. The new missile product is a laser-guided 155mm artillery shell which adds laser-designation to GPS guidance. This new feature will provide more targeting options and pinpoint the targets precisely while on the move. The name of the new product is Excalibur S.

Excalibur S will have the capability to change course in mid-flight instead of following a parabolic course to hit its target which what other missiles do. It is a comparatively cheap artillery shell which can detect its target which can be located 25 miles (40 kilometers) away.

The video below is showing how a missile works generally. Excalibur S will have the same way of working. It is just that Excalibur S will be more precise and able to work on locations which have low GPS signal as well as moving targets.

The piece of equipment, known by the name of GoSun Stove, runs on Sunlight and does not require any source of fuel to cook food; it soaks up warmness of the sun to attain a temperature more than 290°C or 554°F.

The interior technology of the GoSun Stove consists of solar evacuated tube which executes as the cooking chamber of the stove.

The sunlight which falls on the tube gets soaked up more than 80%. Even if clouds get in the way of light, the food continues to cook due to the heat stored within the vacuum tube.

In diameter, the gadget is 2.25” while its length is 2 feet; it is capable to hold food or liquid over 1.4kg. The price of ‘GoSun Sport’ is $280, while the cost of the ‘GoSun Mini’ is $128.

‘GoSun Sport Pro Pack’ has a price tag of $360 but it includes protected portable case, and an additional cooking tray and spoon. Each batch, the gadget is able to cook sufficient amount of food to provide for up to four people.

Matt Gillespie, an industrial and a designer working at GoSun Stove, stated that how the idea was initiated. He stated that, the idea was developed by Patrick Sherwin, the inventor of GoSun Stove and the founder of the company.

The gadget’s tube is made of borosilicate glass and it comes with a warranty of two years.

30 Ocak 2015 Cuma

The above is a photo of Saturn’s bizarre-looking moon ‘Hyperion’ taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Hyperion is icy, porous, and sponge-like in appearance and it gives off electrons! When Cassini flew by the Saturn’s moon, it got briefly bathed in “a beam of electrons coming from the moon’s electrostatically charged surface.”

“Its surface is continuously bombarded by ultraviolet light from the sun and exposed to a rain of charged particles — electrons and ions — within the invisible bubble generated by Saturn’s magnetic field, called the magnetosphere.” says NASA for the Hyperion. “The researchers think Hyperion’s exposure to this hostile space environment is the source of the particle beam that struck Cassini.”

During the close encounter with Hyperion, the Plasma Spectrometer aboard Cassini detected that for a brief period of time, the spacecraft had been magnetically connected to Hyperion’s surface and the electron beam escaped from the moon towards the spacecraft.

Analysis indicated that there was a strong negative voltage on Hyperion. “It was rather like Cassini receiving a 200-volt electric shock from Hyperion, even though they were over 2,000 kilometers [1,200 miles] apart at the time,” said Nordheim, one of the team members.

Although no damage has been detected to Cassini due to Hyperion’s electronic beam, it could be hazardous to future robotic and human explorations.

In the earlier part of January, people who are fond of Samsung’s products started to hear different speculations about a new smartwatch that Samsung is preparing. It is expected to be the smartwatch that Samsung is planning to display during Mobile World Congress (MWC) event for 2015 which will start in March. The smartwatch is given the codename of Orbis, and it is going to have a circular body. It is going to be run on Tizen instead of Android Wear. Up till now, no smartwatch with a circular body has been launched. Wireless charging

There is a site called SamMobile which is almost always right about what Samsung is planning to do next. Based on reports from a reliable source, SamMobile has disclosed a unique feature about Orbis that it will support wireless charging which is really the best charging method yet. This is a great move by Samsung. So far the company’s wearables don’t really have a pleasant or comfortable method for charging. For charging wearables, one has to attach a strange cradle with the device.

Display

It’s been some time now since people are hearing about Samsung’s circular smartwatch. It was August 2014, when people heard about it for the first time. At the moment, it is being assumed that people will get to see this smartwatch in the month of March.

Skunk Works is developing a compact fusion reactor which is of size of a jet engine but it claims that it can power up aero planes, spaceships and cities. The company claims that the reactor will be functional in 10 years. The current reactor, the tokamak design, can only hold a limited number of plasma whereas the Skunk Works design is a tube-like design, therefore, it can hold more plasma than the current design.

Below is the tokamak design:

Below is the Skunk Works design:

Therefore, the new architecture will be 10 times smaller in size but will generate the same power output like the ITER. It is expected to generate 500MW in 2020s which is suitable for the use of fusion in all kind of applications instead of just to use in giant, expensive power plants.

Skunk Works is one of the experimental technologies of Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest aerospace and military companies. Within five years, it is expected that the developed model is ready to go for full scale production which is capable for generating 100MW which is enough to power up a large cargo ship or 80,000 home city. This invention hopefully can be one step forward towards a cleaner and unlimited energy.

A Google Goggles is actually an app and it should not be mistaken with the Google Glass. This application was launched in the ending months of 2009 as an experimental app, and now it has been completed to help us in diverse ways.

Google Goggles is only available on Android, till last year it also existed on iOS. This app is not present as a built-in app but requires downloading and installation from Google Play to the device.

After downloading and running the app on the device, the user notices its interface is same as a camera app. Google Goggles runs with the help of camera, using the device’s camera the application identifies famous landmarks, logos, works of art and products, it is also capable of scanning QR codes and bar codes, it can check and translate text, and other than that it solves Sudoku puzzles.

QR codes get scanned up quickly but for that the Google Goggles must be running and the camera should be pointing towards code. The same function goes for the bar codes, but sometimes it is hard for the app to recognize them, then user should take a picture of the code so that it could be scanned.

The application is workable only with internet connection and it depends on user whether he uses it through Wi-Fi or using both cellular and Wi-Fi.

The application scans text best in good amount of light, if the light is not proper Goggles let you turn on Flash for better brightness. The text is cropped and then it is copied or translated, excluding English, Googles is capable of reading text in seven different languages, Turkish Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, and French.

Looks like Microsoft is unleashing one app after another on iOS and Android phones and tablets in a bid to push its apps beyond the Windows Phone. After making its popular Office freely available for the two platforms, the Redmond-based giant has released its Outlook app for iOS and Android devices.

The app is available for iOS on iTunes and as a preview for Android on Google Play. You can download and use this email service for free. Microsoft had acquired the popular email app Acompli in December last year and has quickly turned it into an Outlook app for iOS and Android.

“We have been and we’ll continue to update the app weekly,” Julia White, Microsoft’s general manager of Office told The Verge. “So in a very short period time you’ll start to see variance from the Acompli app that will not be updated after that point.”

As some may have expected, Microsoft has not removed the integration of Acompli with Google Drive and Dropbox, but has retained them. Another important feature of Acompli is that you can swipe to quickly archive or delete emails and you can even schedule the messages to a convenient time when you can come back and read them or send a reply. The inbox removes clutter and surfaces emails that are important.

The Outlook app gives you quick access to contacts, mail, calendar and files. Outlook for iOS and Android will support Outlook.com, Office 365, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Exchange and other major email services.

Googlewas in negotiation with two company for becoming a reseller carriers’ including Sprint and T-Mobile USA. However, Businessweek reported that Google has signed the deal with the company’s SoftBank CEO

Google and the familiar persons are not said anything about the financial terms but it can be measured that it will be like other MVNO contracts. However, Google mentioned to provide $2 per-GB of data to pay a wholesale rate.

Google is trying to measure the control and continuity of the consumers experience on basis of the deal. However, the wholesale rate can be accurate and seems to be great. Moreover, it can create an open war between T-Mobile and Sprint on the wholesale market.

In the agreement, Google has added selling some own smartphones like Nexus 6 and Nexus 9 tablet in the market. Moreover, Google has provided a good consumer experience including Google Fiber and various Wi-Fi hotspot deals. Google may not announce the deal officially. However, they are planning to offer more services in 2015 and it’s just the beginning step for the company.

Just few days ago, Apple has ordered different companies to deliver A9 on time for Apple iPhone 6S to meet the demand. A new report is published by UBS where TSMC would be responsible to provide A9 and A9X chips for Apple iPhone and Apple iPad, only 50% chips.

However, Samsung is going to produce 70% A9 chips with Globalfoundries while TSMC reduces to 30% production of it. Now, Maeil Business Newspaper has published an article on the Apple A9 chips production where they mentioned Samsung along will be responsible to produce 75%.

Samsung will use Austin, Texas factory in order to deliver the huge amount of chips in time for Apple iPhone 6S. However, the newspaper has not highlighted the price of the dealing between Samsung and Apple for the chips. Other companies will deliver remaining 25% of chips; meanwhile, TSMC will be one name of the companies. Earlier, the company delivered full A9 chips for the Apple iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and iPad Air 2.

29 Ocak 2015 Perşembe

The well-known Apple analyst Ming Chi-Luo is hanging his abacus at KGI Securities. He is famous for predicting the perfect analysis regarding the Apple products like iPad and iPhone in the past.

Kuo is now telling that Apple is going to release a stylus during the next quarter, probably compatible with the 12.9-inch Apple iPad Pro. He has predicted the arrival of new Apple product on the basis of numerous stylus patents applied by Apple in the past few months.

Steve Jobs might be spinning like a driedel by hearing the stylus update in his graveyard. No one can ever forget his review about stylus during launching of OG Apple iPhone in January 2007.

“Who wants a stylus? You have to get them and put them away and you lose them. Yuck. Nobody wants a stylus.”-Steve Jobs

Kuo added that stylus is more suitable than using a keyboard or mouse and also more accurate than a person’s finger. It might be available as a additional compatible accessory considering the budget factor of iPad Pro.

The analyst is not expecting any special features to stylus right now. However, gyroscope might be embedded in future products that allows to “write on air”. Also Lightning connector can be utilized by Stylus for charging purpose. Apple is targeting mainly corporate and education sectors for increasing the sales of iPad Pro along with stylus.

“We don’t foresee significant sales of an optional stylus in 2015 and forecast unit shipments of 2-2.5 million. But we believe that the stylus could improve the experience of users, however, and will likely help Apple develop specific customer groups such as the corporate sector and educational institutions.”-Ming Chi-Kuo, analyst, KGI Securities

Samsung is using its own Exynos chipsets instead of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 in its new upcoming flagship smartphone Galaxy S6. It seems this decision of Samsung’s is not because of so-called overheating issues with Qualcomm’s latest SoC as alleged by the TSMC foundry, but is actually because the Korean company wants to take on the world famous chip maker with its 14nm technology.

According to the Korean media, industry sources say that both Snapdragon 810 and Exynos 7420 chipsets are already being incorporated in various new flagships. Samsung is using Exynos in its Galaxy S6 while Snapdragon 810 is being used in LG G Flex 2 and Xiaomi Mi Note. After some earlier mishaps with overheating of Samsung’s Exynos 5 series, Samsung began to use more of Qualcomm chipsets but now it is back with Exynos 7420 that will go into the Galaxy S6.

Samsung will be using the superior 14nm technology for manufacturing the Exynos 7420, while Qualcomm is still using the old 20nm process for its Snapdragon 810 and is moving on the 14nm process only this year. 14nm technology means smaller footprint, superior performance and lower power consumption which takes Samsung a step ahead of Qualcomm.

Qualcomm has of course announced that the heating problem with its Snapdragon 810 has been solved. Snapdragon SoCs are famous for their multi-band LTE modems, but Samsung has now developed its own LTE Cat. 9 radio which will actually be built on 20nm, while Qualcomm’s LTE radio is on 28nm. While Snapdragon 810 allows 4K encoding-decoding and streaming, it is not known what Exynos is capable of, but knowing Samsung, we needn’t be too worried.

Nowadays there is a lot of information going around. Sometimes, it can be overwhelming to read them or sometimes you might not get the whole picture of the news. Luckily, there is a new apps called Timeline. It is just released for your iPhone or iPad from Apple App store.

Timeline puts all the news that you read in a context. On top of that the apps will arrange them in the chronological order. Therefore, the news can go back from decades ago or even centuries. The apps also present you with carefully summarized current topics of the week from real journalists. You can explore them more if you are interested. Therefore, it can give you a different perspective of the current issue.

You can try the apps if you are into quality, perspective and analysis-driven journalism. Currently Timeline is only available on iPhone but it will soon available on iPad and Android device.

Diagrams of 12” iPad Pro or Plus have been leaked which is thought to be introduced by Apple in spring. Martin Hajek, the master of virtual brush, drew some practical and stunning diagrams of the upcoming iPad Pro or Plus that what the device will look like with its launch this spring, based on information from these revelations.

Other than this, the supposed stylus will come with the tablet making its cameo appearance. According to Martin, Apple Watch’s digital crown and biosensors have been included in the stylus with a slider for doing extra tasks.

Apparently the new Apple’s tablet is going to be bigger in size than the 9.7 inches iPad Air 2, but rationally it is expected that the new device will consist of thin aluminum body and the famous general figure and appearance which is expected from the series of iPad tablets. Sources revealed that the thickness of the new device is between 6.9-7.5mm, which is a great success; and other than that sources verified the supposition of four built-in speakers.

The rumors about the Apple’s iPad revealed that it has an ultra high-res screen display of 12.2″ or 12.9″, with Apple A8 chipset, but it is supposed that there could be a difference in software. The last year’s rumors of iPad Air 2 having split-screen functionality didn’t turn up for Apple’s tablet, it is possible that it was kept for more efficiently oriented iPad Pro/Plus, or whatever name is decided by the team from Cupertino; we will only know when it will be released in the spring.

The rumors for the much awaited next flagship from Samsung aka the Samsung Galaxy S6 continue to float and this it’s a Polish website Android.com.pl that has arrived with a very interesting piece of information for the device. According to the source, the Galaxy S6 would have a proprietary connector placed to its back, wherein users can place a new set of optional back covers with some very unique and advanced functionality.

The source also goes on giving few examples of the functionality for the covers. One cover would sync with the S Health and help measure blood sugar levels. The other cover is said to have a monochrome E-Ink display for reading of data and books without consuming the battery. Another cover is said to act as an personal fitness trainer that would be able to connect to different machines and sync data to its relevant apps. One more cover is said to offer additional lenses to the primary camera. This are few examples and we may also have many more options apart from these ones.

This information is very much in line to the earlier news showing up the list of covers. Looking to the staunch competition that Samsung is currently facing in the market, there is no doubt that the Korean tech giant would leave no stone unturned to pump its next flagship with new and unique features and hit back strongly in the market. We can expect few more surprises to be unveiled at the March MWC.

28 Ocak 2015 Çarşamba

Samsung has been pretty silent on their tablets side since few months, except Galaxy Tab Active device. South Korean giants have release many smartphones over the second half of 2014, but we have not witnessed any new range of tablets since last June.

So the rumors of new range of Samsung slates are now started buzzing over various social media channels. SamMobile reported that Samsung is dynamically working on the different Galaxy versions of the tablets.

The model numbers mostly reveal the probable successors to the Galaxy Tab 4 range of slates.

SamMobile revealed that both variants of the Galaxy Tab AS might be the successors to the 7” Galaxy Tab 4 while Galaxy Tab AL would succeed either 10.1 inch or 8-inch Galaxy Tab 4. The rest of the tablets would be Samsung’s new Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note Pro slates. There is also a probability of these slates being successors to the more refined Galaxy Tab S 10.5 and Tab S 8.4 tablets.

There is no information available regarding the exact release dates, but they will certainly launch in one of the following quarters.

The upcoming Samsung flagship the Galaxy S6 that is seemingly facing up some heating issues with the Snapdragon 810 currently is said to launch some early units with the company’s own cooked Exynos 7420 chipsets only. The good news is that the Exynos 7420 chipset has just paid an visit to the Geekbench site. The chipsets multi-core tally was 5478 and the single-core tally was 1520. These results seemed to be more likely to the Galaxy S6 prototype that had undergone the benchmark test. The chipset has been made using the big.LITTLE architecture wherein the Cortex A57 cores are used for heavy duty jobs and the Cortex A53 cores are used for less intensive tasks. Due to the slower cores, the overall clock speed for this has been made to 1.5GHz.

However, based on the benchmark test, the Galaxy S6 prototype was shows running with 3GB of RAM amidst speculations for the device to be hosting 4GB of RAM modules. With more and more new cooking day-by-day we would surely like to hear an official word on this from the company itself.

A leaked document has revealed the plans of chip making giant Qualcomm for the second half of this year 2015 showing up few details regarding what the devices 2015 could offer.

Just when Qualcomm has started shipping its Snapdragon 810 64bit chipset the news for its successor Snapdragon 820 are already out. The Snapdragon 820 is said to be coming with some very prominent advancements that include 14nm FinFet manufacturing system at Samsung and GlobalFoundries fabs in addition to bringing the Taipan architecture for the 64bit CPU cores. Till now in most of the Qualcomm chips they used Krait CPU cores, but with the transition to 64bit architecture for Snapdragon 810, Qualcomm was forced to leave its custom cores. The Snapdragon 820 is said to be an octa-core chipset having eight TS2 high-performance cores. Moreover, the new 14nm FinFet technology will surely give improved performance and better efficiency. Additionally, the Snapdragon 820 would also include a Adreno 530GPU along with the support to faster LPDDR4 RAM in addition to MDM9X55 LTE-A Cat.10 Qualcomm modem.

Apart from this, there is also an Snapdragon 815 chipset from the company that two comes with octa-core design. However, this is said to have big.LITTLE architecture with four TS1 and four TS2 cores. In this case, the GPU is said to be Andreno 450 with LPDDR4 RAM support and DM9X55 LTE-A Cat.10 Qualcomm modem. The Snapdragon 815 is said to be manufactured with a 20nm node.

Now coming to the mid-range category, Qualcomm has three chipset is plan: the Snapdragon 620, 625, and 629. The Snapdragon 625 and 629 are manufactured with 20nm HKMG Samsung/GF process and are octa-core SoC supported with Adreno 418 GPU. The design for the chipsets could be the company’s own made or have a ARM Cortex solution. The Snapdragon 620 would be a quad-core chipset with Taipan cores clocked anywhere between 2-2.5GHz offering support to LPDDR3 RAM.

Additionally, one more chipset the Snapdragon 616 is spotted that comes with eight ARM Cortex A53 cores running between 1.8GHz to 2.2GHz and supported with Adreno 408 graphics. This SoC would support LTE-A Cat 6 modem and is said to be made using the 28nm HKMG by Shanghai-basied Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company (SMIC) factory.

Well as time moves ahead we expect to see many handset in the second half of 2015 hosting this powerful machines. Take a look at the image below.

One of the best mobile phone of Huawei, which was released in the month of September 2014, Ascend Mate7, is also one of the biggest screen smartphone that is available in the market. Last month, a new was broken that the company has been working to launch a more advanced phone which will be the heir of Mate7. Some additional images have come out from a place within China and are supposed to be of this new cell-phone.

The images obtained are not quite complete, which hides the true appearance of smart-phone, but they revealed that this new handset does have some similarities in appearance with the Mate7.

It has been said that the company will end using Ascend brand, so that the new smart-phone could only be called Huawei Mate 8. However, it is also possible that the firm might include Mate 8 in its Honor series, which will officially be introduced later this year in US.

It is not yet known that what specifications will this new smart-phone have, but with the new introduction of Quad HD displays by Huawei chief Yu Chengdong, it can be assumed easily that the new Mate will have a screen of 1080p display.

Also there are two new handsets Honor 2X and P8 which are expected to be launched by the company in very near future. On the other hand, it is possible that the company will launch its all three smart-phones at the same moment, but that can only be told in future now.

Taiwan based chip maker MediaTek needs no introduction as the company’s baked chipsets are found in most of the affordable smartphones sold by handset manufacturers across the globe. MediTek has a wide gain popularity in many affordable Chinese handset and has a strong foothold in the Asian market. Now the company seems to be planning to move a step further and venture into the US markets by opening up its first office in San Diego. This means MediaTek is also set to raise the competition further with its arch rival Qualcomm which too is established player in US market and across globe. However, for now it’s only T-Mobile carrier that is selling MediTek powered devices from Alcatel in the US markets.

However, Qualcomm is currently much ahead of the race hen it comes to market share globally, but it seems that the entry into US markets would surely help MediaTek bridge the gap. Making their business strategy clear, at CES 2015, company president Ching-Jiang Hsieh was heard saying “If you intend to be the most global [player] in the mobile business you should be selling a chip in North America.”

US carriers are often seeing pushin up their plans for new handsets and it could turn out to be a good opportunity for MediaTek to enter the affordable ranged handsets market in the country. However, this is certainly not going to be a cake walk as Qualcomm has already gained popularity here as well as its chips have made home to Lumia 535 and Moto G like handsets. Moreover, within the user community, MediaTek is much less popular compared to Qualcomm.

Jon Erensen, Gartner research director looks it as a good opportunity for MediTek in US market, but like Intel, MediaTek too will have tought fight with Qualcomm.

Smartphone lovers love to hear about a software update. They bring improvements and eliminate bugs. However, it can be very annoying if an update is taking too long to get released. This is the case of Android 5.0 Lollipop; it was previously called Android L, and people are waiting for it for about six months. Different smartphones will get their Lollipop updates on different times.

Samsung

Android 5.0 Lollipop for Samsung Galaxy S5 is currently available for users in Malaysia, South Korea, Russia and most parts of Europe. It is not available for US users, and they still have Android 4.4.x KitKat. It is believed that major carriers will get the new software after a few weeks. However, the update is available for UK users.

For Galaxy Note 4, the Android 5.0 update might be released in January. The US carriers will act accordingly. There is a high chance that Samsung might skip 5.0 update, and it will directly launch Android 5.0.1 update for the Galaxy Note 4 which will fix many bugs. However, Samsung has released the Note 4 user manual for the updated version which means Android 5.0 update will be launched soon.

Samsung has confirmed about the software update for Galaxy S4, but no time frame is given so far. For Galaxy Note 3, no update is available at the moment. It is expected that Galaxy Note 3 will get the update after the newer phones are done. Android 5.0 update is also available for various Samsung handsets.

LGLG G3 got the Android 5.0 Lollipop update in November; however, it is only available in South Korea, selected parts of Europe and for Vodafone users in UK. LG G2 will also get the update when G3 is done. There is no announcement whether LG G Pro 2 will get the update or not.

HTC

HTC One (M8) is expected to get the Android 5.0 Lollipop update within next ten days. However, US carriers may get it late. HTC One (M7) will surely get the update, but after the One (M8) is done. Later on, other HTC smartphones like HTC One (E8), One Max, One Mini 2 and One Mini will also get the updates. The bad news is that US carrier variants won’t get the update. Besides these, many other HTC handsets will get updates by the end of the year.

Motorola

In November 2014, Motorola Moto G (2014) was the first non-Nexus handset to get Android 5.0 Lollipop for both US and global users. However, the update is not available everywhere. Motorola Moto G (2013) also started to get the update last year, but most Moto G owners are still waiting for it. Motorola Moto X (2014) got the Android 5.0 update in November last year. Motorola Droid Ultra, Droid Mini, Droid Maxx, Moto E and a few others will also get the update.

Sony

The first non-GPe Sony Smartphone that will get Android 5.0 update is Xperia Z3, but that is going to happen in February; therefore, users will have to wait for some time. After the Xperia Z3, Xperia Z2 is expected to get the software update, and that will be end of February. The good news is that Sony Xperia Z1 will also get the update; however, it will get the update after Z3 and Z2 are done. This means Z1 users will have to be very patient. Sony has also confirmed that its tablets and Z-series smartphones will get the Android 5.0 Lollipop which includes total 13 devices.

As per the schedule, Xiaomi has announced its 2014 premium flagship the Xiaomi Mi4 in the Indian market where the company has been quite successful and has received tremendous response for its previous models like Mi3, Redmi 1S and Redmi Note all disappearing within seconds in the flash sale.

Now the company has went out announcing the 16GB variant of the device putting a competitive price tag of 19,999 Rs for the same. The registration for the handset has started at Flipkart where it will go on sale on February 10. The company has said that the other 64GB variant for the handset will also be available ahead however, there is no word regarding the pricing for it.

The Xiaomi Mi4 will straight away compete with the might of Huawei Honor 6 and the OnePlus One both of which are priced more competitively and offers similar specs on-board. The Honor 6 has already created ripples in Indian market priced for Rs 17,999 and comes with an advantage of additional expandable memory. Whereas the OnePlus One has a 64GB of flash memory already.

The device comes with a 5inch display with 441ppi density and Gorilla Glass 3 covering. It has a Snapdragon 801 clocked at 2.5GHz supported by 3GB of RAM memory and two storage options mentioned above. Its runs the Android 4.4.3 KitKat skinned with the company’s home baked MIUI v6. It has 13MP primary and 8MP secondary camera and battery life of 3080mAh. Check out our complete review of the device here.

Samsung is about to launch their modified Gear products in the coming MWC expo. However , it has released various Galaxy brand smartwatches but none got the expected accolades.

Samsung is working hard in prepping its own smartwatch blockbuster with rumored name Orbis. It is said that Samsung started working on a new round piece since Apple announced its own iWatch last quarter.

The Orbis device will be more appealing and stylish compared to the current Samsung Galaxy Gears. It will sport a rotating ring on its top eradicating the pressing and navigating issue of smartwatch on their tiny displays. However, Orbis is expected to have a “crown-shaped power button” which will be reserved for rotating the bezels at the top. Apple’s iWatch already have this button for scrolling and zooming purpose. The power key will be utilized eventually for S Voice , for waking up the device, for launching stuff and so on.

We definitely can’t wait for the new leaks to come up, since Orbis device is the question of Samsung’s reputation in the smartwatch arena.

It is crystal clear that Apple is not going to launch its smartwatch called Apple Watch before the month of March. However, there is one good progress; Apple Watch got its first ever game. The name of this new game is Letterpad, and it will not only be available for Apple Watch but also for Apple iPad and Apple iPhone. Graphics

The screen size of Apple Watch is just 1.5-inches which mean that the work of developers has reduced to a great level. At the same time, one should not suppose that Letterpad is a game with intensive graphics full of glittering images.Letterpad

The game Letterpad consists of 200 puzzles that are to be solved; it features a 3 x 3 grid of letters. The users of Apple Watch will also be able to create their own puzzles on the smartwatch. Moreover, they will also be able to share their self-created puzzles with other users.Launching

Up till now, no one knows what the price of Apple Watch is, and when it will be available. One thing is for sure though; Apple Watch is not going to be released before March. Therefore, people will not be able to play Letterpad on their wrists until then.

Wearable devices are much in news lately. Samsung is rumored to be working on its new round smartwatch for a while now. The project is codenamed ‘Project Orbis’ just like the ‘Project Zero’ for Samsung’s upcoming flagship Galaxy S6. We have recently heard rumors that Samsung might announce its round Orbis smartwatch alongside Galaxy S6 at the MWC 2015 in March.

Samsung’s new round smartwatch will supposedly have a rotary ring on the top that will allow users to interact with the device. Sammobile has come up with additional information about some of the features that might be incorporated in the Orbis smartwatch.

Although most Gear smartwatches support call making, the new Orbis smartwatch will not support this feature. You will be able to accept phone calls or dismiss them, but you will not be able to talk or handle them from the smartwatch.

On the Homescreen, you can swipe from top towards the bottom to get the drop-down menu that holds icons for brightness, Bluetooth and battery; brightness control; and do not disturb mode. When you swipe the screen from bottom to top, you get the recent apps menu like in the Gear S.

The rotary ring has some special functions. When in the recent apps menu, rotating the ring to the right slowly will display 1 app at a time while faster rotation will show you 3 apps at once. You can close the recent apps menu by using the crown-shaped power button.

On the home screen, when you rotate the ring towards the right, you will see widgets in use. After reaching a widget, left rotation will give you the contents of that particular widget. Rotating the ring towards the left will show you notifications and you can run through them.

You can also control the on-board music player with the rotary ring – pause, mute or run through the songs. The ring will allow you to control the alarm, time, find your device or know the weather forecast.

Sammobile says that all this is just “the tip of the iceberg”. The watch will have a lot many other functions. Orbis is surely going to be one amazing smartwatch!! It could be Samsung’s answer to the Apple Watch. What do you think?

Last week, we saw Microsoft unveiling its Microsoft HoloLens along with its new Windows Holographic API that can be used by developers for multidimensional imaging, CAD apps, imaging and much more. The Microsoft HoloLens is the company’s standalone VR headset and has its own computing power, spacial sound used for holographic processing, able to understand you sight of vision and voice, working wirelessly and processing huge TB of data in real time. This means it is having a great processing prowess with multiple functionality in just a headset.

Along with this, a platform named as Holo Studio was also announced which allows to create a new Windows Holographic experience. The demonstrations shows up a quad-copter created with the help of Holo Studio which is later 3D printed to get a physical object. Well, the company also went out releasing some infographic images for the HoloLens VR headset showing up its details.

Check out the following images that shows up the details for the HoloLens headgear.

Normally the first quarter of the year is an off season for IT materials and parts industry. However, this year might be different. Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEM) is growing in the beginning of the year due to the early release o Galaxy S6. With the Samsung Electronics (SEC) has lined up the release of its mid-to low-priced products such as Galaxy A and E series as well as Galaxy S6 in the beginning of the year, the increase in the SEM’s performance can be seen too.

As Galaxy S6 is released 2-3 weeks earlier than originally planned, it also improved the sales performance for ACI Business Division too. As this division supplies the IVH (Interstitial Via Hole) HDI (High Density Interconnection) for the Galaxy S6. This year the OMS Business Division sales also will be improved due to the increased production of 20MP OIS (Optical Image Stabilizer) to be embedded in Galaxy S6 too. Therefore from the two information, we can gather that Galaxy S6 will be coming with HDI display and a 20MP OIS camera.

With the economy is recovering for countries like USA, hopefully, it will increase the demands for high-end smartphones. This is seen as positive sign for SEM.

“While SEM had a hard time last year, they improved their production efficiency and revamped their organization to a considerable extent” said a security analyst. “As SEC’s smartphone market share is rebounding, the performance of SEM, which supplies key materials and parts to SEC, will improve as well”.

Computing magnate HP has two new Android powered tablets that were announced few days back. One comes with a 12inch display and the other has a 8inch display at the front.

The HP Pro Slate 12 hosts a 12.3inch display panel covered with a protective shield of Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and offers a display resolution of 1600×1200 pixels with 163ppi density. The display offers the conventional 4:3 aspect ratio. Under the hood lies the powerful quad-core Snapdragon 80 chipset offering clock speeds of 2.3GHz. the tablet has dual front-facing speakers that come with “Duet Pen”. This pen allows users to draw on the screen and even on paper. The HP Folio case will transfer all the text to tablet that is written on the paper. This technology has been incorporated with four microphones that can hear ultra-high sounds emitted from the pen. This technology has been developed by Qualcomm and HP is the first company to use it.

the HP Pro Slate 8 comes with a 7.9inch display having 2048×1536 pixel resolution and 326ppi density along with a protective Gorilla Glass 4 layer over it. All its other specs are similar to the HP Pro Slate 12. The 12 inch slate has been priced for $569 and the 8inch for $449.

Well, it seems that the flip smartphones that once used to be very popular has not lost the market yet. Last year after announcing the LG Wine Smart in September, the company has arrived with another flip Android powered handset known as the Ice Cream Smart which went official announcement in Korea yesterday.

Looking to its specs, the LG Ice Cream Smart flip hosts a 3.5” display having 320×480 pixel resolution. The device is baked with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset clocked at 1.2GHz. the memory options include 1GB of RAM and 68GB of internal expandable storage.

The device offers a primary camera of 8MP and a secondary front-facing VGA snapper. The connectivity options are pretty good that include DMB-TV and LTE. The device currently runs the Android 4.4 KitKat version. The handset measures 16.9mm in thickness and comes with a removable battery backup of 1700mAh.the handset for the moment is said to be launched in its home-town only.

27 Ocak 2015 Salı

People are anxiously waiting for quite some long time to see what this Sony Xperia Z4 looks like. They also want to see what specifications Sony is going to give them about this smartphone. The concept of this Sony Xperia phone is sensational, and people are really curious to know more about it.

Specifications

Sony Xperia Z4 is more known as Sony Xperia Curve, and it looks very much as its name. It gives an elliptical impression because of its amazing, thick yet circular sides that are very much different from the design of previous Xperia Series phones. That is not all; this phone has a big display of 5.2 inches with a RAM of 3GB. It has the powerful Snapdragon 810 processor, and a camera of 20MP. The device has storage of 64GB, and it comes with JBL Stereo speakers.

Sale point

The smartphone is great in every possible way; however, it is the stylish curves of Sony Xperia Z4 that will become the main reason for its fame and sale. Now that is left upon Sony whether the company uses this feature in its marketing campaign. Nonetheless, this smartphone will still look very much like the previous phones of Xperia series despite having curved sides.

HTC reports that a press event will be host by the company at MWC 2015 on 1st March. Public expects that the firm will also introduce its One (M9) / Hima smartphone on the same day. It seems like HTC will have an additional revelation for us all.

Forbes reported that the One (M9) will be released with first ever fitness band of HTC, which according to previous statement, has been made in partnership with Under Armour.

Details about specifications of fitness band are not yet known, but some information regarding the One (M9) has been shared by Forbes.

According to reports, the rumors about the cell-phone have been most accurate, and the latest HTC flagship smartphone is estimated to be an advancement of the One (M8) , which is a proof of its exterior’s resemblance with its older model.

The One (M9) will have a1080p display. It has a new Snapdragon processor which can be none other than the octa-core Snapdragon 810, it also has RAM of 3GB and a back camera of 20 MP is also include which does not has HTC’s UltraPixel technology.

The One (M9) will run on Android 5.0 Lollipop and an advance Sense UI Sense 7 is also included. Other than that, a built-in fitness tracking app Under Armour Record will be included to sync with the new HTC band.

Forbes stated that right now there are no such plans of HTC to launch any smartwatch, while the One (M9) / Hima with a fitness band will be perfect for 1st March.

Xiaomi is all set to launch its upcoming 4G supported smartphone named Mi4 in India tomorrow. Manu Jain, Xiaomi India-Head already hinted the Mi4 price to be around Rs 20,000 in an exclusive interaction with IndianExpress.com. The company, just a half-year old in Indian market have launched Redmi 1S, Redmi Note (dual Sim and 4G variants), Mi3 along with various accessories in partnership with e-commerce leaders Flipkart.

Xiaomi Inc, popularly called as ‘Apple of China’ already launched the Mi4 in July last year. Moreover the device is yet to hit the Indian mart. Last week, Mi Note and Mi Note Pro smartphones were unveiled by Xiaomi at their official event in Beijing.

Mi4 sports a 5’ IPS display with a 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution at 441 ppi protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It features a 2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor along with 3GB of RAM. It runs on Android 4.4.3 KitKat OS based on MIUI 6. Mi4 supports 4k video recording with its 13MP rear and 8 MP front camera. It has a huge battery life of 3080 mAh.

Chinese giants Xiaomi is looking to strengthen its position in the booming mobile mart in India. IDC last quarter results reported that Samsung is leading the Indian smartphone market with 24% share. Micromax is placed second with 20%, followed by Lava, Karbonn, Motorola at 8%, 8% and 5% respectively.

Softcard is a payment app which is currently owned by joint venture of Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. Recently, there is rumor that the company is experiencing financial difficulties since the company is laying out most of its employee. On top of that, there is another rumor that Google is willing to buy it at a price below $100 millions.

Despite all these rumors, the mobile payment system is now supported on Nokia Lumia Icon. Therefore, there will be four Windows Phone models which support the Softcard apps. The remaining three models are Nokia Lumia 822, HTC One (M8) for Windows and Nokia Lumia 928.

Softcard app is available on Windows Phone Store for free. To be able to use the feature on Nokia Lumia Icon, you need to download and install the app. After that, you can add and store eligible credit cards. Alternatively, you can use a pre-paid card and use that to make mobile payments. The apps also bring you great deals from retailers to your phones. You also need to install a special secure SIM card from Verizon.

To make payment, you will need to enter your PIN number once you open the Softcard app. Select the card you wish to use and put your phone nearer to the “contactless” symbol on the terminal when you want to check out. Currently, Softcard is supported by more than 200,000 locations.

Softcard is Now Supported by Nokia Lumia Icon

Softcard is a payment app which is currently owned by joint venture of Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. There was rumor that the company is experiencing financial difficulties by laying out most of its employee. On top of that, there is another rumor that Google is willing to buy it at a price below $100 millions.

Despite all these rumors, the mobile payment system is now supported on Nokia Lumia Icon. Therefore, there will be four Windows Phone models which support the Softcard apps. The remaining three models are Nokia Lumia 822, HTC One (M8) for Windows and Nokia Lumia 928.

Softcard app is available on Windows Phone Store for free. To be able to use the feature on Nokia Lumia Icon, you need to download and install the app. After that, you can add and store eligible credit cards. Alternatively, you can use a pre-paid card and use that to make mobile payments. The apps also bring you great deals from retailers to your phones. You also need to install a special secure SIM card from Verizon.

To make payment, you will need to enter your PIN number once you open the Softcard app. Select the card you wish to use and put your phone nearer to the “contactless” symbol on the terminal when you want to check out. Currently, Softcard is supported by more than 200,000 locations.